The invention relates to component placement apparatus, particularly, but not exclusively, to apparatus for placing microchips on printed circuit boards.
Prior art apparatus for placing components such as microchips onto, for example, a printed circuit board comprise a pick and place head that moves to pick up the component from a component carrying means and then moves from that position to a position over the printed circuit board such that the pick and place head can then place the component on the printed circuit board. This requires considerable accuracy in the positioning of the pick and place head over the component carrying means and the printed circuit board. Additionally, the process is slow.
The prior art apparatus has the problem of being unable to provide a component placement apparatus that is sufficiently accurate and that can be operated at a sufficiently high speed for some purposes.
The invention provides a component placement apparatus comprising:
a head mount having at least one pick and place head;
component carrying means; and
component receiving means, the at least one pick and place head being arranged to pick up a component from the component carrying means and place it on the component receiving means, characterized in that:
the head mount is movable to move the at least one pick and place head in a single plane;
the component carrying means is movable in a plane transverse to the at least one pick and place head at a pick up position; and
the component receiving means is movable in a plane transverse to the at least one pick and place head at a placement position.